Friday, May 11, 2012

Mitt Romney is being characterized this week by The Washington Post as a
vicious high school bully.It is in similar
vein to George W. Bush being characterized by Kanye West as a person who doesn’t
care about black people.It’s also like Dan
Rather characterizing Mr. Bush as a person who shirks responsibility and flies
with the Texas Air National Guard rather than enlisting for a tour of duty in
Viet Nam.

The common theme is that Republicans are not good people.They have Sinister Intent.

Kanye West knows it.Dan
Rather knows it.They are helpfully
showing us that Republicans don’t want to do what’s best for us.

These characterizations gain traction because Americans know
that Republicans have Sinister Intent.Dan Rather may not have found exactly the right documents, but he was trying
to point out the truth.

This is extraordinary!

Because I am a Republican, it is understood that I want our
drinking water to be unsafe.I want the
economy to “tank.”I want to bring harm
to our school children.

Unbelievable!

Yet the characterizations are believable because our culture reinforces them. In America, Republicans are known to have
Sinister Intent, and this personal shortcoming is only absolved by a change in political
party affiliation.

And remarkably, Americans never directly acknowledge the Republican
Sinister Intent.We just know it.

The pachyderm metaphor is apt.

Republican candidates face an uphill battle in getting
elected to public office.Think how
difficult it is to defend “intent.”If
someone accuses you of wanting to do bad things, how do you effectively counter
that?

We are going to find a barrage of political ads confronting
us over the next six months.Watch the
anti-Romney ads to see how they reinforce “what Mr. Romney wants to do.”It is his intent that will be attacked, and those
attacks, sadly, will resonate.

UPDATE: 5/19/2012:Jason Riley has a column in the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal. It is an interview with Abigail Thernstrom, vice chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Mrs. Thernstrom offers this observation on a comment by Attorney General Eric Holder: "...they're suggesting that inside the breast of every white is a willingness to kill a Trayvon Martin."

The "they" being referenced is the black leadership of America, and "they" appear to see Sinister Intent in every white.

For all you political junkies out there, keep in mind that in America, if you have dark skin tone, the odds are ten to one that you are not a Republican. The black leadership in America might be rhetorically talking about "every white" but they grant special exemption to anyone who is not a Republican.

Did you catch a glimpse of the elephant we spoke about at the top of this post?